The term “static bending light” refers to a lighting system for vehicle lamps, or headlights, that are intended to eliminate blind spots for a driver when making a turn. Static bending lights provide illumination for areas that were previously blind spots when making turns and provide greater visibility utilizing a light that does not have any moving parts. Static bending lights project light toward the side of the vehicle in the direction the driver is turning the steering wheel and allows a driver to easily detect the presence of pedestrians, other vehicles, or obstacles in front/side blind spots.
A static bending lighting system has been developed that includes a single lighting element between the high and low beam headlights that is illuminated when the steering wheel is turned in a range of between 25° and 35° depending upon driving speed. This system is limited to providing one light projection pattern and may illuminate too wide of and area or too narrow of an area under some conditions.
Another approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,390,112 is to provide several LED lights in an arcuate array that are switched on progressively based upon an input from a steering wheel position sensor. The array of lights is assembled to the outside of the headlights of the vehicle with four lights being illustrated in the array. The innermost light is switched on first followed by the other lights sequentially as the degree of steering wheel turning increases. As each additional light is illuminated, the previously illuminated lights remain illuminated until the steering wheel is turned back to a straight path.
Advances over the above approaches for providing a static bending light system are summarized below.